On April 23, independent centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen won the first round of the French presidential elections. The Kremlin sees France as a potential counterweight against Germany in the EU, and against the US in the NATO. Moreover, France is a member of so-called Normandy Group for resolving the conflict in Ukraine’s East.

A month before the election Le Pen was campaigning in the Kremlin having a surprise meeting with Vladimir Putin, where he told her that Russia had no plans to meddle in the French election.

In February, Macron’s campaign reported “thousands of attempted hacks” of its servers and accused Russian state media outlets of spreading slanders about Macron, including groundless allegations of being a “US agent” and rumors about Macron’s sexual orientation.

Hungary, the Baltic States, and Georgia have also been the target of political subversion by the Kremlin, which has often sought to bolster the political ambitions of far-right and Euro-skeptic parties or foster instability, experts said.

Numerous hacking incidentsoccurred during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, both Republicans and Democrats issued calls for a deeper probe of Russian interference.

Dutch authorities went old school to prevent the recent election from manipulating the results through cyber attacks, they counted paper ballots by hand.

The defense minister of Denmark accused the Russian government of a campaign to infiltrate email accounts at his ministry.

A committee in the UK’s House of Commons “does not rule out” that the crash of a key voter registration website might have been the result of a foreign cyber attack ahead of Britain’s referendum.

New Poll: How will Russia interfere with the final round of the French presidential elections?

There are hackers, fake news, freaks, pranksters, trolls in Russia’s new soft power weapon arsenal. To get Marine Le Pen elected the Kremlin should intensify its efforts in promoting Le Pen and suppressing Macron. What is Russia going to do to reach its goal in France? Tell us your opinion on this matter.

How will Russia interfere with the final round of the French presidential elections?

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Macron and Le Pen won the first round of the French presidential elections. Macron's campaign reported “thousands of attempted hacks” of its servers, accused Russian state media outlets of spreading slanders about Macron. How will Russia interfere in the final round of French presidential elections?

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About the Source

A philologist by education, in 2003-2007 Yuriy worked as a journalist in a Luhansk online media. He was born and lived all his life in the peaceful provincial city of Luhansk, where nothing serious happened. Until 2014.
Now he is an IDP. Follow Yuriy on twitter: @loogunda

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